Hay-rack.



0.L.HAYS.

HAY BACK. APPLICATION IILBD MAY 22, 1909.

Patented July 2, 1912.

snventpz Wilma/men COLUMBIA PLANMRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D- c tiara OMER L. HAYS, OF KIMBRO, SOUTH DAKOTA.

HAY-RACK.

Z '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OMER L. Hers, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kimbro, in the county of Stanley, State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hay-Racks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in hay racks, of the knock-down type and has for its principal object to provide novel brackets for securing the sides and ends of the rack to thebot-toni of the rack, these bracketsbeing so formed as to rigidly hold the sides and ends of the rack inclined outwardly from each other.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel bracket consisting of two wedge-shaped integral socket members arranged at right angles relatively to each other, these brackets being designed to hold the corner posts of adjacent sides and ends of the rack, so that these posts will be held as closely together as possible and locking of the posts together facilitated.

Vith the above objects in view the invention consists in certain .novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification :Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hay rack embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the'hay rack. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the corner brackets. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the side socket members.

Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of reference designate similar parts, 5 designates in general the rack bottom, this bottom being formed preferably of longitudinal spaced slats 6 which are connected together at their rear and front ends by transverse slats 7. The bottom is supported upon bolsters 8 which support axle trees 9 that carry axles 10 which are equipped with wheels 11.

The sides of the rack are identical in construction and each comprises a plurality of longitudinal slats 12 connected intermediate Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 22, 1909.

Patented July 2, 1912 Serial No. 497,768. g r

their ends by cross slats 13, and furthercon nected together at their outer ends by posts 14, these posts inclining outwardly as clearly shown in F g. 1. Inclined braces 15 are connected at their lower ends to the posts and at their upper ends to the top slats of slats being connected together intermediate their ends by transverse slats 17 andfurther having their outer ends connected together" by outwardly inclining posts 18, these posts being designed to bear upon the end posts 14 of the sides as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The posts 14 of the sides and 18 of th'e ends will be hereinafter referred to as corner posts, and to secure these corner posts to the corners of the bottom 5, novel brackets 19 are employed. Thesecorner brackets are all identical in construction so that it will be necessary to minutely describe but one. Each corner bracket comprises a pair of socket members 20, these socket members being integral with each other and being arranged at a right angle to each other. The

inner walls 21 of the sockets are perpendicular to each other while the outer walls 22 of the sockets incline outwardly from the inner walls of the sockets, so that each socket has approximately a wedge-shaped contour as may be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 3. The lower ends of the corner posts of adjacent sides and ends are beveled as shown at 24; to conform to the contour of these sockets, so that the posts are maintained at all times in intimate contact with each other.

In order to secure each corner bracketto the bottom, an orificed strap 25 is secured to the inner wall 21 of one of the socket members, this strap being arranged adjacent to the inner upper corner of the socket member and being adapted to extend along the outer edge of the adjacent longitudinal slat of the bottom to which the strap is bolted through the instrumentality of screws, bolts, or the like 26. An orificed strap 27 is arranged on the inner wall of the mating socket member and is disposed adjacent to the lowermost inner corner of this socket member, this strap being designed to extend along the outer edge of a transverse end slat of the bottom and to be bolted thereto through" the instrumentality of screws, bolts or similar connectors 28. j

In order to secure the intermediate transverse slats 13 of the sides to the bottom, socket members 29 are employed, each socket member being provided on its inner wall with spaced approximately triangular shaped straps 80 which are designed to bear upon the overlapping ends of the transverse and outermost longitudinal slats of the bottom and to be secured thereto through the instrumentality of bolts 31 as shown in Fig. 4. The outer wall of each socket slopes outwardly and the lower end of the respective cross slat is tapered to conform to the contour of the socket.

For locking the corner slats in intimate contact with each other any desired lock may be employed, the look here shown comprising, U-shaped keepers 32 which receive the hooked extremities of substantially U- shaped hasps 33.

l Vhat is claimed, is

The combination with a hay rack including a bottom and sides and ends, said sides Copies of this patent may be obtained for and ends having contacting corner posts, of

brackets secured to the corners of said botbrackets for locking the sides and ends of said rack together. 7

In testimony whereof, I affix my slgnature, in presence of two wltnesses.

OMER L. HAYS.

Witnesses:

W. F. HUDSON, GLADDUS HALL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Yatents, Washington, D. C. 

